Ransomware :: By the Numbers

Thursday, August 04, 2016

"It won't happen to me."

Famous last words by the business person who assumed hackers only targeted the big business, the little guys, or basically anyone other than them. Some businesses simply don't take the time to deal with proper security measures and others just aren't aware that their current protection isn't sufficient. The thing is, ransomware is growing fast, can be devastating, and shows no boundaries - everyone is fair game.

With technology ever-changing and hackers getting more sophisticated it's more important now than ever before for businesses to implement a layered security defense. You might think that cybercriminals are mostly targeting enterprises, but according to a report by Keeper Security and the Ponemon Institute, 50% of small businesses have been breached in the past 12 months.
Hackers often use ransomware, a type of malware, which takes control of a computer and then encrypts all the data on it, rendering it inaccessible. Cisco reported that 9,515 people end up paying ransoms each month. The average ransom is $300 and hackers could make $34 million a year on ransomware attacks. To read more about Cisco’s cybersecurity report, check out this recent article published in Fortune, "5 Takeaways From Cisco's Big Cybersecurity Report".

The numbers don't lie
Having worked with a variety of security products and software, we found that a crucial layer in the security approach is OpenDNS. It not only blocks malware, botnets and phishing over any port, protocol or app, but also detects and contains advanced attacks before they can cause damage. You can predict and prevent attacks before they happen, regardless of whether your employees are on or off the network.

To put it into perspective, we ran a report of our existing customers who currently have OpenDNS and we’re pretty proud of these numbers. In the last 7 days, for our customers with OpenDNS, there have been:
• 9.8 million queries
• 9 thousand malicious items blocked
• 2 thousand instances of malware prevented
• 3 of those instances contained botnets

The threats are out there and the impact that security attacks have made on businesses everywhere has been significant. Choosing the proper security measures for your business should be an easy decision - don't allow yourself to be vulnerable another day. If you have any questions regarding OpenDNS, security measures for your business, or would like a quote, get in touch.